Sunday, 21 February 2016

Peace in our time - Not with BRexit.

Is it Yes? Is it No? Which is right?
For our future depends
On electoral trends.
Should we leave? For we need to unite?

At a global level we face some very serious problems. We appear to be on the brink of a very nasty religiously inspired war, where already large numbers of refuges are flooding into Europe and nowhere in the world is safe from the human bombs and guerrilla tactics of the enemy. Recent banking history also suggests that the world currency markets are not that stable and an economic crash could come at any time. In addition we have had month after month when the world’s average temperature has broken all previous records and there can be no doubt that climatic changes and rising sea levels will have major long term consequences for future generations. What history teaches us, is that when a society faces serious challenges there is a real danger that it disintegrates into warring factions who put short term self-interest before the long term collective interests.

So at a time of looming crisis what are our political leaders doing to ensure that everyone works together to combat the dangers ahead. Do they work with our European colleagues to look for possible ways of minimizing the dangers? Do they work hard to ensure that our own citizens unite to face the possible threats ahead. The very opposite – they are planning to spend the next four months dividing the country into two warring camps and whatever the result the scars of the battle will remain for years and make it even harder for us to tackle the real long term issues.

What has gone wrong? This web site, "Trapped by the Box," is all about the ways in which we all get trapped by our education, our experiences, the society we live in and ultimately the planet we live on. David Cameron behaves as if he is trapped by the ethos of the public school debating society. Take an issue, argue it in a way which forces people to take sides, and then vote to decide which of the opposing forces wins. The goal is to win the debate – and it is irrelevant whether the subject is serious or flippant, or whether the arguments are sound – as long as they are presented in a convincing enough way to attract votes.

So what are the earth-shattering subjects of the artificial debates David Cameron forced onto the European scene at a time when there were far more important things requiring decisions to be made, both at home and in Europe.

One related to the fact that a small number of children who lived in a country which was poorer than ours might actually be getting more child benefit than we can afford because, as a Christian country, we need to spend millions on nuclear weapons which can kill millions and so cannot afford to be generous to anyone worse off than ourselves. But Cameron's actions suggest that this issue is so important that he has to put European Unity at Risk.

Another vital issue related to the rights of a British Government to pass its own laws, as it would be wrong to allow Europe to make laws protecting the human rights of the insignificant minority of the UK population who do not support the government After all this easily ignored rabble represent a mere 75% of those entitled to vote).

The good people of Europe realized that there were far more important issues but that, just like Chamberlain in Munich in 1938, David Cameron needed a bit of carefully crafted paper to wave when he returned to Britain so he could use it to claim he had won the debate …

I strongly believe that it is everyone’s interest that we work together with Europe and – and the worst thing that can happen is for politicians to rush round the country urging everyone to take sides on the issue of whether David Cameron’s PR scripted piece of paper is of any more value than the useless piece of paper a former Tory prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, was given by Hitler in 1938.

The real danger is that the result of the referendum result will hinge on whether or not people think David Cameron is holding anything more substantial than a typically useless PR press release. What a mind-bendlingly stupid issue to divide the country on when there a far more urgent matters to address.

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About Me

A.K.A. Hertfordshire Chris -
I am, by temperament, a scientist who likes to stand back and get an overview - rather than getting stuck in a narrow specialist area. I am particularly interested in how people process information and how we could design systems that fit into the way that people think.
Since I retired I have been very much involved in mental health service provision (but have recently retired from all committee work) and I run a web site at www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk which provides help and advice for people whose ancestors lived in Hertfordshire.